As the public comment deadline for a massive billboard proposed on St. Thomas nears, one Virgin Islands attorney warned preventing the glowing highway sign, or removing it once built, could be difficult unless new laws were enacted.
This spring, Derek Gabriel, commissioner of the Public Works Department, received a request from a private company to approve a 10-foot by 30-foot LED-lit billboard on an enormous pillar near the Edith L. Williams Academy High School.
The company and Public Works employees worked to ensure the enormous sign would be windstorm-resistant and minimize distraction to drivers, Gabriel said. Still, the commissioner was personally against it, concerned the billboard would profoundly change the feel of the area.
Rather than rely on his own opinion, however, Gabriel asked Virgin Islanders what they thought in early May, setting a May 26 deadline for comment.
One commenter writing to contactdpw@dpw.vi.gov was St. Croix attorney Russell Pate. A former St. Thomas resident, Pate looked into groups working to limit similar billboards littering the mainland.
For 40 years, the Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit Scenic America has worked against proliferation of giant billboards and documented lengthy, costly court battles when municipalities try to stop or remove such signs.
In 2012, the State of Texas acquired land outside Houston through eminent domain to widen a highway. Two of the properties had 48-foot-by-14-foot billboards attached to wooden poles embedded deeply in the ground, according to the Scenic America website.
The company that owned the billboards, Clear Channel Outdoor Inc., had been leasing the land but still wanted compensation for their now-unusable infrastructure. They also wanted the state to pay for lost revenue on future advertising at the sites.
A jury awarded Clear Channel $268,235. The state appealed and the case went all the way to the Texas Supreme Court, where, in 2015, Clear Channel was awarded the cost of their infrastructure — between $15,000 and $25,000 per sign. They were not awarded any damages for lost revenue, however.
Civic leaders in New Hampshire, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Arizona, and California, among others, have also fought court battles against the billboard industry, arguing the signs block natural beauty, distract drivers, and improperly advertise products not sold at that location.
Laws restricting billboards have been met in court, with mixed results.
In 2017, Reagan National Advertising and Lamar Advantage Outdoor Company applied for permits in Austin, Texas, to convert their traditional, static billboards to dynamic LED signage like the one suggested for St. Thomas.
The city of Austin declined, citing an ordinance meant to keep glowing eyesores from cluttering its skyline. Similar laws have been around since at least 1919.
In 2021, the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments in the case, eventually siding with the city of Austin, saying the billboard companies had not had their First Amendment rights violated. Austin’s ordinance banned billboards from advertising products that were not allowed on that site but did not ban particular topics or ideas, wrote Justice Sonia Sotomayor.
Pate, writing to the Virgin Islands Public Works Department Friday, suggested the Legislature enact a carefully-worded law to protect the natural beauty of America’s Paradise.
“I would also recommend the V.I. Legislature take up the billboard issue, to prohibit large outdoor billboards and advertisements. Further, I recommend the V.I. Legislature review the ScenicUtah.org website to correct certain billboard tax loopholes that actually encourage billboard proliferation,” Pate wrote to contactdpw@dpw.vi.gov.
Not having mainland-style roadside advertising was a key selling point for the Virgin Islands’ primary industry. Tourists come to the territory because it’s not like home, Pate said.
“The natural beauty of our Islands is our greatest asset. That is why tourism is nearly 50% of the USVI GDP,” Pate wrote to Gabriel. “Whenever I have to travel to the States, I am disappointed, to sometimes revolted and astounded, that so many billboards are approved considering the safety hazard for drivers – not to mention how ugly and tacky giant billboards look.”
More than an economic driver that pleases tourists, freedom from flashy distractions is an important part of Virgin Islanders’ lives.
“This natural beauty not only makes the USVI a lot of money, but it creates peace, happiness and joy for our residents,” he wrote. “I doubt there is a Virgin Islander that goes to the United States and finds the abundance of billboards on roads and highways a good thing.”
